Slovenia News 27 March 2007

It is in Slovenia's interests that procedures on resolving the EU constitutional crisis are launched during Germany's EU presidency and Slovenia will strive as best it can for a compromise solution to this issue at the June EU summit, Prime Minister Janez Jansa said on Tuesday. The Slovenian Foreign Ministry said on Monday that it had received a diplomatic note from Croatia in which Slovenia's southern neighbour confirmed reciprocity for Slovenians in acquiring real estate in Croatia. The ministry expects Croatia to meet its obligation in practice as well. The note means Croatia met an obligation from its EU accession talks, the ministry said. President Janez Drnovsek met UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in New York on Wednesday. The office of the secretary general as well as Drnovsek's office have confirmed that the pair discussed Kosovo, Iran and Darfur. More » Prime Minister Janez Jansa has honoured the role played by political dissident Joze Pucnik in bringing independence to Slovenia. According to Jansa, a great injustice is being done to Pucnik, as his role in the independence efforts has not been emphasised enough. More » Condemning the crimes of totalitarian systems plays an important role in educating new generations, Justice Minister Lovro Sturm said at the annual European Standing Conference of History Teachers' Associations at Bled on Thursday. More » The Slovenian Foreign Ministry said on Monday that it had received a diplomatic note from Croatia in which Slovenia's southern neighbour confirmed reciprocity for Slovenians in acquiring real estate in Croatia. The ministry expects Croatia to meet its obligation in practice as well. More » Defence Minister Karl Erjavec and his Macedonian counterpart Lazar Elenovski signed on Thursday an agreement on cooperation in 2007. This year the countries are planning 24 joint projects, including language education and cooperation in training. More » Visiting Istria and Karst on Tuesday, Prime Minister Janez Jansa met representatives of the Italian national community in Slovenia. Jansa concluded that a lot had been achieved in the two years since the last meeting and added that one of the challenges ahead came in the form of the legislation introducing provinces. More » The Public Agency for Entrepreneurship and Foreign Investment (JAPTI) will get EUR 34.1m in budget funds in 2007 in accordance with the programme and financial plan adopted by the government last Thursday, JAPTI chairman Franc Hoffman told the press in Ljubljana on Tuesday. More » The Obalno-Krasko region, the second richest Slovenian region, has been undergoing intensive development in the last two years and meets all the criteria for soon becoming a successful province, Primer Minister Janez Jansa said on Wednesday as part of the government's visit to Slovenian Istria and Karst. More » The cabinet confirmed on Thursday that the Slovenian Armed Forces would take part in an EU battlegroup alongside Hungarian and Italian armed forces. The battlegroup will include a motorised company of 200 Slovenian soldiers and will be on standby from 1 July to 31 December 2007. More » The Slovenian cabinet moved to stamp out unfair business practices, including deceptive and aggressive sales behaviour, by confirming a bill on unfair business practices on Thursday. More » The cabinet confirmed on Thursday Slovenia would lodge a request with the European Commission for an extension of the reduced VAT rate on construction, renovation and maintenance work for residential housing and food preparation. More » Defence Ministry and Kobilarna Lipica, the state institution managing the Lipica stud farm, signed on Wednesday an agreement on the establishment of a cavalry honour guard unit, Defence Minister Karl Erjavec said in Lipica. More » Carthago, the German manufacturer of motorhomes, is to open a factory in Odranci in northeastern Slovenia, the company's owner, Karl-Heinz Schuler, said on Tuesday. The factory, which will produce top-end motorhomes, is to be built by April 2008. More » The government on Thursday adopted a plan for the second stage of privatisation of Telekom Slovenije which determines that up to 39% of the telco would be sold to a strategic investor in a public tender to be published in July. More » Renault-owned car maker Revoz was the biggest Slovenian exporter for the 14th year in a row in 2006, its exports amounting to EUR 973.7m or 5.8% of the Slovenian total, according to a survey by the daily Delo. More » Outgoing Central Bank Governor Mitja Gaspari said on Monday that he was pleased with his achievements during his six-year term at the post. He pointed to the "fact that we had changed over to the euro, that the adoption did not worsen the economic trends, that the switch was well organised and that it brought no side effects". More » The central bank projects that the Slovenian economy will expand by 4.6% this year, slowing down to 4.4% in 2008 and 4% in 2009. Inflation is to amount to 2.7% this year and next, and 2.6% in 2009, according to the report on price stability which Banka Slovenije unveiled on Monday. More » The Steklarna Rogaska glassworks will provide the crystal statuettes for the winners of this year's Miss USA beauty pageant. More » Trimo, the Trebnje-based maker of prefabricated components for the construction industry, posted sales of EUR 134.2m for 2006, an increase of 31% year-on-year and significantly above plans. Net profit soared 38% to EUR 4.8m, Trimo chief executive Tatjana Fink told the press on Tuesday. More » Laboratory tests have shown that a suspected case of classical swine fever in Cresnjevci near the Austrian border was a false alarm, but the National Veterinary Administration (VURS) said on Friday farmers should continue to be cautious. More » A memorandum of understanding on the establishment of a Mediterranean University was signed on Wednesday by Piran Mayor Tomaz Gantar and Higher Education Minister Jure Zupan, who said the government was fully backing the project. More » The opposition Social Democrats (SD) have come head-to-head with the ruling Slovenian Democrats (SD) in the latest Politbarometer survey, which gives both parties an approval rating of 19%. More » An EU house providing information about the European Union opened in Ljubljana on Thursday as part of the celebrations marking the 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome. More » The Government Communication Office and the European Commission signed on Friday a communication management partnership agreement with the aim to bring EU issues closer to the public. More » The EU is the biggest European success story, Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel has told the STA on the 50th anniversary of the Rome Treaty. According to him, the biggest challenge facing the bloc in the coming months and years is the adoption of a constitution. More » Prime Minister Janez Jansa believes that the upbeat mood prevailing at the ceremony to mark the 50th anniversary of the EU will make the search for a compromise on the EU constitution easier. More » It is in Slovenia's interests that procedures on resolving the EU constitutional crisis are launched during Germany's EU presidency and Slovenia will strive as best it can for a compromise solution to this issue at the June EU summit, Prime Minister Janez Jansa said on Tuesday. More » The EU-US open skies agreement confirmed by the EU Transport Council agreed on Thursday is a big opportunity also for the Slovenian flag carrier Adria Airways in the market of transatlantic flights, Transport Minister Janez Bozic said on the sidelines of the meeting in Brussels. More » Flag carrier Adria Airways and the company Gio have been selected in a public tender as the providers of air transport services for the government and government agencies for 2007 and 2008, in a deal worth EUR 6.8m. More » The Carmina Slovenica choir, led by conductor Karmina Silec, is to present in Ljubljana on 27 March its newest project "CS Light". The performance sees the world-famous choir focusing for the first time on minimalist music. More » The Slovenian Academy of Arts and Sciences (SAZU) presented on Tuesday a facsimile of the oldest Slovenian translations of the Bible, published by German publishing house Ferdinand Schoeningh in the Biblia Slavica series. More » The oldest book fair in Europe opened its doors on Thursday in Germany's Leipzig. The fair, which traces its history to the second half of the 15th century, is focusing this year on Slovenia as part of its programme to promote Central and Eastern European literature. More » This year's Slovenian Advertising Festival (SOF) is seeing a record 600 advertisements, the president of the event Marko Vrtovec told the press in Portoroz on Thursday. The festival started on Wednesday and ended on Friday with an awards ceremony. More » The advertising agency Futura DDB bagged the "Best Agency" award for the fourth year in a row, as the 16th Festival of Slovenian Advertising (SOF) closed in Portoroz late on Friday evening. More » Historian Guenther Bernhard of the Graz University presented at the Maribor Faculty of Arts on Monday his monograph "Documenta Patriarchalia Res Gestas Slovenicas Illustrantia", which brings documents on Slovenian monasteries in Sticna and Gornji grad. More » People were standing in line in front of the Slovenian central bank on Monday morning to get their hands on the limited-issue commemorative euro coins marking the 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome. More » Petra Majdic outran the world's best cross-country skiers at the 4.5-kilometre classic sprint in Stockholm on Wednesday. Majdic beat the second-placed Virpi Kuitunen of Finland by 4.5 seconds, while Anna Dahlberg of Sweden came in third, 5.6 seconds of the pace. More » Schedule of Events from 27 March to 1 April More »

Archive

year month 2008 1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   10   11   12 2007 1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   10   11   12 2006 1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   10   11   12 2005 1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   10   11   12 2004 1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   10   11   12

© Government Communication Office, Gregorčičeva 25, SI-1000 Ljubljana
tel.: +386 1 478 2600, fax: +386 1 251 2312, www.ukom.gov.si/eng/, e-mail: gp.ukom@gov.si